Sacred Seven #01 — Gary Stu

July 2nd, 2011

 

Not a good day for protagonists… 

Impressions:

And here we have the Action Mary Suetm. He’s a sullen loner, but the moment he walks into a room, he’s the center of everybody’s attention. Do they understand him? No. Nobody could ever understand his tortured soul… except maybe that cute girl who wants nothing more than to be his friend. And the weak kid that looks up to him. But he’s too much of a badass. A badass that knows the proper value of safety so always makes sure to wear his helmet on his moped. And as it turns out, he has a heart of gold and a special power that makes him the most important person in the world.

Okay, so after the rant with Kamimemo, I should praise it a little bit for actually showing its terrible character instead of just talking all about him, but that doesn’t make the character any more tolerable, just better presented. The action was pretty good too, although it was hard to tell what kind of tone they were going for at times. Production was solid there at any rate. Music veered a little too far on the corny side of the fence for my tastes, especially since there was absolutely no trace of irony anywhere else in the episode. It was just a taaaad bit of tone whiplash going from brutaity and berserk to a magical girl transformation sequence to heroic trumpet fanfares in about a minute.

The episode really could have used at least a little levity in place of all the angsting and tortured staring into space. Once you’ve decided to go with an army of maids in short skirts, you’re abandoned all hope of being taken seriously. Stop angsting it up and embrace the campiness. Same could be said for the T&A too. Why would you have an army of maids in short skirts if not for that? Much like Blood-C though, it was only really tolerable when the fighting started. Thankfully, there was much more of it here than there… or in most action shows for that matter, so there’s at least that. Not as well choreographed, but it’s a start. It’s also a Sunrise show that’s not built on mostly CG and advertising budget, so it looks pretty good too. They did do a good job of showing him actually losing control during the fight with both the brutality of beating the medusa thing with its own pieces as well as the brief flashback imagery of a similar scene surrounded by bodies. I wish the rest of the episode and his characterization had that kind of lighter touch.

It seems… okay though, aside from the massive Mary Sue protagonist, and that is a very very heavy aside. Don’t get me wrong, having any personality is beter than none since it affords the options to grow and change, but I still spent most of the episode and nearly all of the first half rolling my eyes at him. I’ll likely give it another episode or two to see how it’s going to go. I can’t say I’m excited about the "Save the World" club at their school, but maybe it means that the show will be trying to develop a sense of humor after all.

Preview:

Tea and rocks.

Posted in Sacred Seven | 16 Comments »

16 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Phocus says:

    It’s like I’m watching Code Geass all over again.

  • Hexmage says:

    This is the only show out now that looks even remotely appealing to me.

  • sterling01 says:

    Isn’t Gary Stu if it’s a male?

  • Yue says:

    Yeah, this probably the one of those titles to import when it comes out in a box. This’ll look nice in a home theater system. ~_~

  • kaon says:

    good¡¡

  • Jack says:

    I’m in it for the orange hair. It’s not original, but I like it. Not DearS hair, but good enough.

  • Mesousa says:

    FUCK MALE LEADS THAT DON’T EVEN APPEAR IN PROMO SPOTS!

    Is Yuruyuri here yet?

  • Anonymous says:

    Good enough for at least one more week.

  • Some Guy says:

    If this show is half the trainwreck Code Geass was it will absolutely be worth following.

  • The Phantom says:

    I liked it, sure it has its flaws but so far is among the few actually watchable animes of this season.

  • Jelly says:

    It’s Lelouch and Suzaku’s love child!